Newtown board wants more cops in schools

Ian Hockley (left) holding a photograph of his son, Dylan, and his wife, Nicole (right), listen to speakers a press conference announcing the launch of Sandy Hook Promise at Edmond Town Hall in Newtown on 1/14/2013. Dylan was killed in the Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings.Photo by Arnold Gold/New Haven Register

NEWTOWN -- The Board of Education, with several parents who have called for additional security looking on, voted unanimously Thursday night to request police school resource officers for all four elementary schools for next year, in addition to security officers in the budget.

The Board of Selectmen still needs to approve the request because, as sworn cops, the resource officers would be in the town budget.

The resource officers would be new for Sandy Hook, Head O'Meadow, Hawley and Middle Gate elementary schools. Newtown High School, Newtown Middle School and Reed Intermediate School all already have an officer.

But for some parents, one armed school resource officer and one unarmed security officer, as the school board proposes to have next year in each school, isn't enough in the wake of the Dec. 14 mass shooting at Sandy Hook School.

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A lone gunman armed with a Bushmaster semi-automatic assault rifle and two handguns shot his way into the school and killed 26 people -- 20 first-graders and six female educators.

The Head O'Meadow PTA voted unanimously Wednesday night to request two resource officers for the school, PTA President Laura Tierney told the board.

Donna Lorenz, who has a daughter at Head O'Meadow, told the board, "I felt really comfortable letting my daughter get out at the school because there were two police officers." But, "I just am not comfortable with one SRO ... I don't feel that we're doing the right thing if we just have one.

"Our educators should not have to worry about security," Lorenz said.

Board member William Hart also wondered aloud, "This will put a police officer in all of our schools. Is that enough?"

But board member Richard Gaines, who heads the Board of Education's ad hod security committee, said he's comfortable with it.

"We've gone through a period of time when we had two uniformed officers at each of the schools." But now, "we're in a position of comfort that we can handle our security needs with one uniformed police officer" and an additional security officer, Gaines said.

The security guards would replace the second uniformed officer at the schools. They would not be armed, he said.

Board Chairwoman Debbie Leidlein said the security officers would be retired police officers or military members.

Parents, who have come to several meetings over the past few weeks pushing for a continued police presence, have called SROs "an absolute necessity" in the wake of Dec. 14.

A lone gunman armed with a Bushmaster semi-automatic assault rifle and two handguns shot his way into the school and killed 26 people, including 20 first graders and six female educators.

One parent at Thursday's meeting who has a better perspective than most, Neil Johnson -- who is an area commander for the Fairfax barracks of the Virginia State Police -- said he's not convinced that even the SROs really would keep kids safe.

People mistakingly think an SRO will be like "a sentry" at the front door, but "they're not always going to be at the front," Johnson said. In addition, "SROs are not tactically trained" and unarmed security guards "are not going to be able to challenge someone with a weapon.

"I would like to see that there are some hard measures put in" in addition, he said.

Gaines said there are other measures likely to be taken.

Superintendent of Schools Janet Robinson's proposed $73 million education budget, which would represent a 6.5 percent increase over the current budget, also includes $165,200 for an extra eight security guards.

Robinson, who was absent as a result of the recent death of her father, was represented at Tuesday's meeting by Assistant Superintendent of Schools Linda Gejda.

Robinson has said that safety became officials' top concern after the shootings. The events at Sandy Hook on Dec. 14 changed district priorities, with safety a key focus for parents, teachers and staff, she has said.

The school board did not act on the budget. The board has until Feb. 14 to get all of its budget proposals and numbers to the Board of Finance, Leidlein said.

During the meeting, the school board also voted unanimously to hire a part-time, 35 hours-per-week custodian for Sandy Hook School, which has moved for the foreseeable future into the former Chalk Hill Middle School in Monroe.

The position restores a job that a Monroe custodian lost when Sandy Hook moved in. The new school is bigger than the old one, so the hire is both needed and will helps out Monroe, said Leidlein. The job is expected to cost $92,40 through June 30.